The media has one main objective, to make the public aware of issues. But today, the
most media outlets are trying to sell you something or better yet, try to convince you of their own ideology. Ideology is “frameworks in which we represent, interpret, understand and ‘make sense’ of some aspect in social existence.” An example of this is how Mainstream and independent media coverage’s are often criticized on their race related stories due to racial stereotypes, race baiting, and the presences and absences of information.
Mainstream and independent media coverage’s are often criticized on their race
related stories due to racial stereotypes. Stereotyping is a practical way in which racism is portrayed, highlighting specific characteristics. One word can make all the difference to influence viewers how they see a race from there on out. When the media has a statement such as "The suspect was a black male," it indicates that the racial background of the individual had something to do with the crime when in fact it had nothing to do with the crime. This leads to viewers assumptions of specific races due to a stereotypical statement the media stated. “These assumption can perpetuate exclusion and in extreme cases, can justify forced internment and genocide.” Both the media and viewers fall in the vital role of understanding ‘common sense’, but by making assumptions the so called ‘common sense’ fails to remain in the system of thought. Furthermore in Massachusetts, the court stated “it's important to consider a recent
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Boston Police Department report documenting a pattern of racial profiling of black males in the city of Boston.” Not only is this portrayed in the media but within the law enforcement as well.
In addition, mainstream and independent media coverage’s are often criticized on
their race related stories due to race-baiting. The term race-baiting refers to the “unfair use of statements about race to try to influence the actions or attitudes of a particular group of people.” This is the purposeful version of stereotyping. During the mid 20th century the legislation and court decisions being the Civil Rights Act, The Voting Rights Act, Brown vs. Board of Education confronted segregation and discrimination in the United States, but even with these changes, the racist ideologies still remained within the media. The media uses race-baiting to their advantage to get the most possible viewers according to Eric Deggans Author of Race-Baiter How the Media Wields Dangerous Words to Divide a Nation who stated in an interview with Fox News “we're in a media environment where you succeed by targeting the biggest niche of viewers or the biggest niche of media consumers.” These niche of viewers can be targeted in any type of media, as they are dragged in and encouraged to reject competitors. Viewers can be encouraged to believe that since black communities are highly likely to experience crime compared to certain groups with more power and privileges (whites), the association of racial identity with a crime indicates that the race is to blame. The media’s purposeful use of race-baiting to influence the actions or attitudes of a particular group of people is yet another reason why Mainstream and independent media coverage’s are often criticized on their race related stories.
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Lastly, mainstream and independent media coverage’s are often criticized on their race related stories due to presences and absences of information. No matter the scenario, the more information acquired the better. But interpretations can lead the wrong way. When an official (who 9 times out of 10 is white) is speaking on the behalf of non-white victims it portrays that the victim is unable to speak for themselves and seem “unknowledgeable and ignorant of English language skills.” Though when non-white victims are given the time to speak, they often have quotations as a title around the victim used as an “ emotional appeal in an opportunistic manner.” The Lack of an adequate explanatio n results in the audience thinking differently of the races which leads to racism within all levels of society. As for false information, The Washington Times article Unjustifiable shooting does not automatically equal racism where a cop in Tulsa shot and killed Terence Crutcher in another police shooting of an unarmed African American man questions what caused the officer to shoot Crutcher when the police report did not seem to fit the picture of the helicopter surveillance video. Words and images are 2 different things. Within this case not only was it difficult to match the police report to the video, but truly understand what had caused the officer to shoot Crutcher. In fact, the absence of information could have determined the real reason Crutcher was shot. But the media strives to convince viewer whatever the story maybe. This was one of the several cases that relates to the questioning ‘police brutality.’ On another note, false information causes viewers to debate with one another. Leading toward the questioning whether or not the media is truly using racial ideology to its advantage.
Both Mainstream and independent media coverage’s are often criticized on their race related stories due to racial stereotypes, race baiting, and the presences and
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absences of information. The system in society presented today in which “certain groups have more power and privileges than others” is creating a boundary with the relation to other racial identities. Race is not simply a physical attribute of an individual, but rather a way of interpreting the world. Throughout history, those of superiority and privilege have looked down upon the people of different race and ethnics. Equality is no where near and the media continues to criticize races. It's important to understand how much of an influence the media has on one's identity, history, social institutions, and everyday lives.